June 4

Taroko Gorge was one of the biggest things that we wanted to do while we were staying in Hualien. I went there with my parents and sisters when they picked me up at the end of my mission and they said that it was one of the things that was most memorable to them. We decided to get the two day bus passes. These buses started at Hualien and had multiple stops throughout the park. With the two day passes we could get on and off at as many of the stops as we would like and so we could set our own pace as we toured the park. We caught the 8:30 bus and arrived at our first destination (Swallow Grotto) at about 9:45. This stop was a mile or so long paved walk right along the side of the road. These was one of the best places to view the cliffs for the gorge. There were some places where I would look straight up and I still had difficulty seeing the tops of the cliffs. This walk was about half way up one of the cliffs and it was carved right into the cliff side – kind of like a tunnel where the right hand side of it is open to the gorge. They had hand railings and everything, but the drop offs were very steep and they had tons of signs saying wear hard hats (we did not have any) because they have frequent rock slides, so it was a little scary with all of the children. After spending about an hour here, we caught the bus to our second destination – Tianxiang. 

At this stop we did a four or so mile hike to a waterfall. We all loved this hike. There were some amazing views still, but less sheer drops, so we didn’t have to worry about the children as much. The hike started with a really long tunnel that went right through the mountain. It reminded me of the tunnel we did last summer as part of the Hiawatha trail, except this one wasn’t as long and we were just walking it instead of riding bikes. There were three or four other shorter tunnels on the rest of the hike and then a suspension bridge right at the waterfalls. The waterfalls were pretty, but we were still kind of high up in the gorge and there was no way to get close to them. 

At this stop they also have a Buddhist temple up in the hills with a couple of large statues of Buddhist gods. So our next adventure was to go see them. There was another suspension bridge to cross and then 356 stairs (the kids counted) to get to the temple. The statues were both impressive as was the temple up there. I wondered what life would be like as one of the Buddhist nuns or monks who lived at that temple and took care of it. Seems like it would be really beautiful and peaceful, but also kind of isolating to live on a cliff and just seeing tourists come and visit every day. We had to run back to make it to the next bus in time, which is a hard thing to do going down 356 stairs on a cliffs edge with six children and parts that did not have handrails. But we made it. 

Our last stop for the day was the Eternal Spring Shrine. This one often shows up in picture books of Taiwan. It is cool because they built it right on the side of the mountain over a river/waterfall. When I came with my parents the path to it was closed, so we only got to see it from a distance. I was so happy when I saw that the path was opened this time. It was just a short walk, some through tunnels again and some on the cliff’s edge, to get to it. When we got there though, we realized that this shrine is one that is way more impressive from a distance. There wasn’t really much to see at it and you could see it in the context of the waterfall and everything. They built this shrine as a memorial to all of the people who died building the road that cuts across the island. There were a little over 200 of them who died and they were all soldiers who worked on the road as part of their service duties. Riding on the bus on the roads in this park was an adventure in and of itself. The road generally is about halfway up the cliffs, so a very steep drop to the bottom if you went off one. Parts of the road are two lanes with traffic going in both directions, but other parts are just one lane with traffic still going in both directions. And then the wind and twist with the river and mountains through the gorge so you have limited site of the oncoming cars. If you were the only one on the road and there was no other traffic, you could take it slow and there would be no problem. But the bus drivers would just fly up and down them and you could feel the buses sway slightly as you went around one curve after another. 

On the way back to Hualien there was standing room only on the bus. About midway through (20 minutes in), Agnes said she had to go to the bathroom. There were no stops for this bus, so we just told her to try to hold it until we got off. That is kind of a large request for a four year old though and after about a minute we had a puddle under her feet on the bus floor. I think a couple people who were standing by her noticed, but they were nice and didn’t make a big deal out of it – they did give her a little more room though. Rebecca tried to wipe it up as much as possible, but then when we had it sort of cleaned up, she went again. Then 5 minutes later she said she had to go again, but this time we remembered that we had spare diapers and we put one on her really quick. We had been having her drink a lot of water to keep hydrated and I guess it is just one of those things that happens when you are traveling with small children. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the train station. 

We tried to find a Vietnamese restaurant that Rebecca had read about, but we couldn’t. So, we were going to try some crepe things, but that street vendor was closed. We ended up getting some more potstickers and some different deep fried foods. On the way home it started raining more heavily. Someone on a scooter stopped in the middle of the road and gave us a couple umbrellas to use. This is the second time someone has given us umbrellas. The people in Taiwan really seem to go out of their way to be helpful. Rebecca and I were talking that night about how friendly everyone is here and how safe we feel. Even more than that though, everyone here just seems so happy to see us and they want to make sure that we feel really welcome.

On the bus to Taroko Gorge.







Here is the map we were working from. We ended up going to about half of the stops.




This was the Swallow Grotto hike. You can see the trail on the left carved in to the tunnel. This was a very crowded one with lots of tour buses and people along the way.














We wanted to go on this suspension bridge, but you had to pay a hiking pass for the whole hike to be able to use it.



Walking to the start of the trail for the waterfall hike.




The trail actually started with a tunnel in another tunnel. So the tunnel behind them is the start of the trail, but I am standing in another car tunnel taking the picture. The car tunnel goes perpendicular to the trail tunnel.






One of the smaller tunnels along the trail.


Some of the massive rocks.






I couldn't really get a good picture of the waterfall, but here it is.




This was the last suspension bridge leading to the view point. It wasn't a very scary one.










At the end of that hike and the start of the next one.


In the distance you can see some of the statues and the pagoda that we were going to hike to see.




Lots of stairs.


One of the giant statues at the top.










The children thought this statue was especially interesting. They were sure it was made out of real gold.


The temple/monastery at the top. It was really pretty.


Another large statue at the top.


This was the eternal spring monument.




The hike to it was all a man-made tunnel. There were a few statues and shrines along the way.

















At the end of the night I got a few fried foods for dinner. This is tien-bu-la and a rice sausage. They were really good, but for some reason the person who made it added onions.